2010 Jul 7

Jaqua brace leads Sounders FC over LA Galaxy in US Open Cup Quarterfinal

Seattle Sounders FC  2 - 0  Los Angeles Galaxy

Starfire Sports Stadium, Tukwila, WA

Goals:
50' SEA: Nate Jaqua (Miguel Montaņo)
62' SEA: Nate Jaqua (Miguel Montaņo)

Seattle: Terry Boss; Tyson Wahl, Jeff Parke, Patrick Ianni, Zach Scott; Miguel Montaņo (Leo Gonzalez 71'), Nathan Sturgis, Mike Seamon (James Riley 78'), Sanna Nyassi; Nate Jaqua (David Estrada 83'), Roger Levesque. Substitutes not used: Kasey Keller, Steve Zakuani, Pat Noonan, Fredy Montero.

Los Angeles: Josh Saunders; Eddie Lewis, Omar Gonzalez, Leonardo (Sean Franklin 71'), AJ DeLaGarza; Chris Klein (Dema Kovalenko 69'), Jovan Kirovski (Juninho 72'), Clint Mathis, Bryan Jordan; Alex Cazumba, Alan Gordon. Substitutes not used: Donovan Ricketts, Todd Dunivant, Michael Stephens, Tristan Bowen.


Match report from Ron Stickney:

Nate Jaqua's two goals led the Seattle Sounders FC to a US Open Cup win over the Los Angeles Galaxy, who had beaten the Sounders in a league match just three days earlier. Terry Boss got his first start in goal for the Sounders and excellent team defending helped him earn a shutout.

Both sides rested a lot of regular starters. The match was played at Starfire Sports Stadium, which recently had new Field Turf installed.

The Sounders were the aggressors in the opening minutes. Jaqua took the first shot of the match on 8 minutes, heading Nathan Sturgis' corner kick just wide of the far post.

Los Angeles had a brief run starting at 14' when Chris Klein shanked his side's first shot well wide. AJ DeLaGarza was up for a chance from 30 yards but comfortably cleared the bar. Klein was barely onside when he dropped a pass to give Alan Gordon a good chance, but he missed the target by a yard.

Midway in the half Seattle's second shot was also Jaqua's as he biked it well over the bar. A minute later Sanna Nyassi's cross was too tall for Roger Levesque and Miguel Montaņo claimed it and put the first shot of the match on goal, but right into Josh Saunders' bread box. At 35' Zach Scott was up for his chance from the corner of the penalty area but he sent it wide of goal.

At 39' Jovan Kirovski came closest in the match for LA, getting a close shot from the right and hitting the near post.

Seattle had three shots in rapid succession at 43' but Saunders stopped them all.

Early in the second half Alex Cazumba had a look from a broken corner kick play but his shot was too soft and right at Boss.

50' SEA: Jaqua (Montaņo). Nyassi drove the attack up the right side, beating two defenders to serve Mike Seamon, who found Miguel Montaņo open on the left. Montaņo's first shot was blocked and his put-back shot hit the crossbar and bounced down at least partially over the line. Jaqua beat a defender to the rebound and headed it into the center of the open net, as Saunders was out to deal with Montaņo's shots. 1-0 Seattle.

Seattle kept the pressure on with corner kick plays leading to shots by Seamon and Jeff Parke.

62' SEA: Jaqua (Montaņo). Nyassi again led the attack, serving the ball to Montaņo on the left. Montaņo beat his marker to the end line and whipped a cross to the far post, where Jaqua headed it on goal. Saunders caught the ball at the goal plane but was stuck holding the ball as he slid over the goal line and into the side netting. 2-0 Seattle.

Seattle defended well the rest of the way to keep the Galaxy off the scoreboard, with Scott and Tyson Wahl each clearing dangerous balls from in front of goal a few times. Boss got lucky on a Kirovski shot at 69' as Boss was well off his line but managed to bat the shot down.

With about 15 minutes to go Levesque had a good chance but shot right to Saunders. Then Jaqua worked a nice give and go with Levesque to go in on Saunders, but failed to get the shot by the keeper when the hat trick was there for the taking.

The Open Cup Semifinal pairing has Chivas USA travelling to Starfire to play the Sounders on Sep 1. The other Semifinal will pair the Columbus Crew with either DC United or the Harrisburg City Islanders (USL-2).


Statistics:
          SEA   LA
Shots:     21   11
Saves:      3    7
Corners:    6    4
Fouls:     16    9
Offsides:   4    3

Misconduct:
45' LA: Cazumba cautioned for tripping Jaqua
70' LA: Jordan cautioned for a reckless foul at the circle
89' SEA: Estrada cautioned for a reckless tackle
89' LA: Gordon cautioned for unsporting behavior

Referees: Jair Marrufo; Mike Rottersman, Baboucarr Jallow; Manuel Soledad

Attendance: 4,512


Postmatch Quotes

Seattle Sounders FC

Head Coach Sigi Schmid

Opening Comments: "Obviously I thought that we did what I wanted us to do. We came out and played with a lot of energy, a lot of desire. It didn't matter who they had on the field. I know they were missing certain people but I thought it was our energy, our defensive pressure that helped create the game that we wanted to create. I'm very happy for the team."

On Nate Jaqua: "Obviously he can make a difference. He's a different type of forward than what we have. Our injuries for us this year have been right down the middle of the field with Nate and Kennedy in the back and Evans and Alonso in the middle of midfield and that's the heart of your team, the nucleus of your team. That's not where you want to have injuries. So obviously Nate being back, he's put in a lot of heart and soul in it. It's been tremendous."

On Jaqua's minutes: "Yeah, we probably stretched it a little bit but, for me, we were sitting there and saying, 'Ok, we think about Sunday.' I said, 'No, right now we are just going to win this game today and tomorrow we will start thinking about Sunday.' Obviously a lot of guys today put in a pretty good claim for being on the field again."

On the win: "It's definitely big. Again, because it's a mentality when losing becomes a habit, winning can also become a habit. Every game you win it becomes a better habit for your team. That's what we want to establish right now."

On Miguel Montaņo: "Tremendous. He was out of gas when he came out but really the first goal was his goal. It was his effort all the way through. Nate put it in, put it over the line, but the second goal was just a great cross to the back post for Nate and he whipped it in. On top of that, we also got a really good defensive effort from him. He kept pressure on the Galaxy, offensively and defensively, and that's what you need from your wide guys."

On the defense: "I thought they played all right together, as well. I thought they were solid. I thought Parke and Ianni kept it together in the middle of the field. Again, if you're playing against a guy like Donovan it changes the equation a little bit. But I thought Tyson was good tonight, Zach Scott had a very good game at right back. But again, the aggressiveness, they were pushed up, they kept the field small, and that makes it easier for us to play."

Nate Jaqua

On his game: "I should have [gotten a third goal]. I wanted that one, too. It was a good team effort. I mean everywhere on the field, everyone battled hard. It was good to get L.A. back after getting beat up down there, it's good to beat them up at our place. It's one of those ones where now we have got to carry the momentum forward. We got to get a win against Dallas this weekend."

On scoring goals: "It's great. It's fun being out there with the guys, especially when everyone works for each other and battles together. It's a great team effort and it's fun playing in those games."

On turning this into league wins: "We have just got to come out with the same mentality, how we have come out in the two Open Cup games and really battle and fight for one another. I think if we do that, we can turn this around."

On his fitness: "I'm definitely improving. I think I went 80 today, which was good. I didn't think I was going to go that long, especially I can get my wind now in the second half. I'm not where I want to be but I'm getting closer."

On scoring in the Open Cup: "I didn't know it was three. I was just excited to play and get out there. It's been so long watching and then I had some good service. All three of the goals were ones where I should put those in."

Miguel Montaņo

On his play: "Very good. The first play that I did went well. After that, I just got more confidence for the plays."

On playing with Nate Jaqua: "We have been playing well. We have been practicing well together, even just the two of us, crossing. That reflected in the game."

On the first goal: "I'm calm. I know that it's going to happen. Keep calm and eventually in one of these games it will come."

Mike Seamon

On getting some more playing time tonight: "It feels good. We take a lot of pride in this game because it shows we can win. To go out and get a two to nothing win over LA, their reserves are very good. We proved we have the upper hand on those guys when you look at 1-24 on the roster."

On defending the U.S. Open Cup Title: "They have mentioned this from the start, that one of our goals is to repeat as the U.S. Open Cup champions and we want to keep that title."

On playing well in these games with the hope of getting more minutes in MLS matches: "You try to help the team any way I can, especially since I'm new. I have been plugged into a few games and whether it's regular season or Open Cup I come out here to play. No matter where you are at you have to play your hardest."

Terry Boss

On his overall impression from the match: "The guys who played in front of me did an excellent job. I made a couple of decisions on some crosses that probably could be cleaned up a little bit. It's a tight field and decisions come a little quicker and just getting used to playing again where everything happens so quickly. The guys fought really hard in front of me and I'm so thankful for their effort."

On being back on the field after the break: "I work hard everyday both with Coach Dutra and with Kasey Keller, they did a good job coaching me up. I'm a very lucky goalkeeper to have both those guys coaching me. It is nice to be on the field and step on the field and make game time decisions."

Los Angeles Galaxy

Head Coach Bruce Arena

On being disappointed with the results: "Certainly we would to have liked to have a better result. This was a game that Seattle played a little bit harder and I think down the middle of the field they beat us in the positional match-ups. I think they deserved to win the game tonight."

On using the U.S. Open Cup to give players extra minutes: "No, to me these games don't make sense. Essentially it was a reserve game tonight. I think the timing of this competition isn't right for MLS teams; it's a difficult time to try and play these games. I think if see both teams, obviously both want to win, the competition is watered down due to the fact that each team is juggling players and see who you want to play and who you don't want to play. For us tonight there were valuable minutes for some players and others not so good."

On the upcoming match-up versus the New England Revolution: "We could have used another day off. New England is coming off a difficult loss and definitely will be looking to make amends, we need a much improved effort on Saturday than we had tonight."

Chris Klein

On being disappointed with the result: "Yeah, you would like get a win, we didn't play very well and they came out with a lot of energy and got two goals. Once they got that first goal it put us on our heels and we are definitely disappointed with the result."

On trying to press too much in the match: "Yes, I think we needed to press up a little bit more on the road, against their fans and on a surface they are used to. They kept coming at us and give them credit, they did well."

On struggling playing on a smaller field: "Yes we struggled with it; I don't think we will use it as an excuse. We struggled with certain parts of the game and I think that was one of them."